St. John’s Lutheran ChurchAlbany, New York17 November 2024 + Advent 2 (Lectionary 33b)Mark 13:1-8Rev. Josh Evans “There is one sin which I have come to fear above all others.Certainty.Certainty is the great enemy of unity.Certainty is the deadly enemy of tolerance.Even Christ was not certain at the end.[‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken …
St. John’s Lutheran ChurchAlbany, New York8 September 2024 + Lectionary 23bMark 7:24-37; James 2:1-10, 14-17; Psalm 146Rev. Josh Evans It sounds like Jesus didn’t read James:“If you show partiality, you commit sin…” But of course that’s an anachronism.Jesus would have had no occasion to read James,a book written many years after his lifetime. But surely …
St. John’s Lutheran Church25 February 2024 + Lent 2bMark 8:31-38; Gen. 17:1-7, 15-16Rev. Josh Evans Life is messy … so why would we expect the life of faith to be any different? Abraham, later exalted by Paul as the pinnacle of faith, was far from perfect. From the beginning of his call, when he was …
St. John’s Lutheran Church16 April 2023 + Easter 2aJohn 20.19-31Rev. Josh Evans Unbelievable. A word which, by definition, implies something too improbable to be believed, something extraordinary, outside the bounds of what we expect to be true. It can be exclaimed in complete and utter amazement after witnessing something truly spectacular … Unbelievable! Or in …
St. Philip Lutheran Church12 September 2021 + Lectionary 24b (Pent. 16)James 3.1-12Rev. Josh Evans My recent road trip brought me safely from Chicago, through Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania. Next stop: New York. As I made my way through New Jersey - about to cross the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan - traffic that had been steadily …
St. Philip Lutheran Church20 June 2021 + Lectionary 12B (Pent. 4)Emanuel Nine, Martyrs (June 17)Mark 4.35-41Rev. Josh Evans, preaching The summer before I started seminary, I took a vacation to Charleston, South Carolina. With churches and places of worship in just about every direction you could look and a skyline dotted by steeples, Charleston’s reputation …
St. Philip Lutheran Church28 February 2021 + Lent 2BMark 8.31-38; Genesis 17.1-7, 15-16; Romans 4.13-25Rev. Josh Evans, preaching https://www.youtube.com/embed/-bx8gwMjlQs You can imagine my surprise when I came home one day to the sound of rushing water. Did a pipe burst? Had there been a break-in? Was the toilet overflowing? No. The cats had discovered how …
This is the final sermon preached at my internship congregation, as I draw my year (how quickly it's gone by!) to a close. I am so grateful for the privilege of being invited into so many lives over the past year, in sadness and in joy and everything in between. The people of Augustana will …
This weekend, I was invited to preach at my home congregation, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Chicago. I also had the unique opportunity to preach alongside my good friend and seminary colleague Analyse Triolo. The video below, courtesy of Analyse, is from Sunday morning's version, though we also preached at the Saturday night liturgy in the …
Continue reading A Sermon about Faith, Community, and Subverting Boundaries
Pastor Josh Evans 